Posts tagged ‘Detroit’

It is now 1 month away from PBS’s Genealogy Roadshow. The series initial program airs Monday, September 23rd at 9:00pm EDT (1am GMT). The show is based upon the Irish TV version of the same name that PBS optioned and is produced by Krasnow Productions in the US.

Every Monday, 9/23 (Detroit, MI), 9/30 (Austin, TX), 10/7 (Nashville, TN), 10/14 (San Francisco, CA) PBS will air the one hour shows that will embody, “part detective story, part emotional journey, combining history and science to uncover fascinating stories of diverse Americans.” The PBS show uses science and history to tell/verify genealogical stories with the most compelling finds shown on air in historic local settings. The four cities were chosen for their diversity of the American genealogical experience. The producers are breaking new ground, with a format that features an expert team of genealogists investigating ordinary people’s stories and then presenting them to a live roadshow audience in an historical setting.

Stanczyk sees that the good people of the PGSM are promoting a genealogical tour — The Historical Tour of Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, on Saturday, June 8th, begins at 2 p.m. They are commemorating the cemetery’s founding (1888) and 125th Anniversary.

… has previously published a map of Mt. Olivet, Detroit cemetery showing the various sections. Today, I am starting a … a database of the names for searching. Search of Mt Olivet is a part of the Mt Elliott cemetery association. Macomb County Death …

… has previously published a map of Mt. Olivet, Detroit cemetery showing the various sections. Today is the second day … article (so its deja vu for you). Search of Mt Olivet is a part of the Mt Elliott cemetery association. Macomb County Death …

Stanczyk has previously published a map of Mt. Olivet, (Mount Olivet) Detroit cemetery showing the various sections. Today, I am continuing a meme to publish all of the section maps of Mount Olivet, that I have. Eventually, I will build a database of the names for searching.

Section 15 (South-part)

Mount Olivet (Detroit) – Section 15 (South)

Sampling of Names:

1547 – Jazdzyk

1544 – Gayeski

1267 – Zwicki

1263 – Warczak, Jablonski, Brzozowski

1208 – PRUSINSKI

846 – Kedrowski

Let me hasten to add that Stanczyk is NOT related to the above name samples (except I may now have to look at the PRUSINSKI in 1208). You need to follow the link to Mt Elliott cemetery association for more info.

Stanczyk has previously published a map of Mt. Olivet, Detroit cemetery showing the various sections. Today is the second day of publishing map sections. This article is virtually identical to yesterday’s article (so its deja vu for you).

Stanczyk has previously published a map of Mt. Olivet, Detroit cemetery showing the various sections. Today, I am starting a meme to publish all of the section maps I have. Eventually, I will build a database of the names for searching.

You must forgive Stanczyk, dear reader, as life has called me away from my writing and research of late. But in the snatches of time I have been able to wrest away from my responsibilities I have been researching one of the more interesting branches in my family tree, the Kędzierski line (aka Kendzierski along with many Americanized spellings, that I will not enumerate).

You may wish to study this timeline image I have included in today’s article. If you click on it, it will take you a page produced from a spreadsheet with the data more easily digestible.

For Americans, our most interesting ancestors are the intrepid ones who managed to find their way from the old country to our shiny shores to join the milieu we call these United States of America.

Interesting Artifacts

What makes this affiliated family (from the Elijasz/Eliasz branch point of view) so interesting is their old world artifacts that help to tell the story of the days in Poland. Their story is filled with a Russian Passport, Polish Church Marriage Record (in Russian/Cyrillic) from 1902, a Certificate of Completion from a Count’s Mill, some Forms from Haller’s Army Enlistment as well as Ship Manifests or Naturalization Certificates.

Now most of my family reside in one ancestral village for long periods of time (after WWI that changes). This Kedzierski family (see late 19th century photo at the bottom) seems to have had some mobility, because they are not found in just one place. Indeed, without these many artifacts, I should not expect to be able to find their records anywhere at all.

I usually use the timeline tool to help me establish where/when to look for USA documents. Today in Poland, two weeks later in the USA (at some port, often Ellis Island), then on to some alluring American city for a few generations. But this time, I needed the timeline to place where in Poland to look for documents for this rather mobile family.

Places in Poland

Actually the proper context would be Polish Places in the Russian-Poland partition of the Russian Empire. The earliest location seems to be Kroczyce, the location of Pelagia Kedzierska‘s birth. By the time her younger brother Ludwik comes along, he is born in Stopnica.We find the next Kedzierski child, Wlodzimierz, being born in either Samsonow or Tumlin (multiple documents, multiple birthplaces). For Jan and Tadeusz we have no knowledge yet of their birthplaces.

So lets move forward in time. In 1902, the 15th of September 1902 to be precise, we find our first document of the Kedzierski family. Pelagia Kedzierska marries my grand-uncle Jan Elijasz in Pacanow parish (both newlyweds live in Pacanow village). But wait a second, Pelagia’s part of the marriage record indicates she was born in Kroczyce and raised in Pacanow. It was from this document that we first learn the parent’s names.

In 1906, we find some very interesting documents for Lucyan (aka Ludwik, aka Louis) Kedzierski. The Certificate of Completion, says that Lucyan was employed in Count Renard’s Mill in Dębowa Góra near Sosnowiec from March 19th, 1906 until October 29th, 1906. It appears this completion, qualifies him for a passport. We find Lucyan with a Russian Passport, stamped 6th October, 1906 (just before completion) followed by a ship manifest arrival in Ellis Island, 16th November, 1906! That’s a pretty tight timeline — the 19th century moved swiftly.

Lucyan’s Ship Manifest indicates that he came from Ninska/Nioska/Niwska none of which could be found on a map and that he was born in Stopnica (mispelled on ship manifest, but spelled correctly on his Naturalization Certificate) and he was going on to Schenectady, NY (although he ended up in Syracuse, NY from which we have most of the rest of his documentation).

Next we move on to 1914. This was actually the first document found many years ago. On a 7th March 1914 NYC (Ellis Island) ship manifest (aboard the Graf Waldersee) from Hamburg (departed 18th February), I found a Jan ELIASZ from his wife Pelagia in Pacanow going to Buffalo (to a friend??? Andrzej Widamski –no record of this friend). At first I was not even sure that this was MY Jan Eliasz (who knew there were so many Jan Eliasz). In my novice years I either ignored or the images were so poor, I did not notice a manifest marking (originally in pencil) with a line between Jan Eliasz and the man above, Wlodzimierz Kedzierski. On the line’s arc was written “br-i-l”, an abbreviation for their relationship being brothers-in-law. So Pelagia was Wlodzimierz’s sister (aaah, a maiden name). Wlodzimierz indicates he is coming from Bobrek (north of Oswiecim) and that he was born in Tumlin.

Moving forward to 1917, we have Lucyan’s WWI Draft Registration and also his Naturalization Certificate. These are good for confirming other facts that link this family together.

Finally, in 1917 & in 1918 we find Wlodzimierz’s enlistment in Haller’s Army (Jozef Haller) papers. Now Wlodzimierz is the only person I have seen that enlisted twice (once in Detroit in 1917 and a second time in Pittsburgh in 1918). This was very fortuitous! Wlodzimierz Kedzierski is unique in the USA. He is the only Wlodzimierz Kedzierski ever in the USA. Ok you may be skeptical, but he uses the same birthdate on both forms and he lists his brother Lucyan in Syracuse, NY on both forms as his closet US contact. On one form he lists his wife as his closest contact in Poland and the other he lists his sister Pelagia as his closest contact (both are in Pacanow in 1917/1918). On his 1918 Pittsburgh form, he lists his parents (Kazimiera & Julian) to be notified of his recruitment and they are living in Pacanow in May 1918.

So as a result of Wlodzimierz’s double attempt we have a fairly complete picture of the family. Now add in another genealogist supplying pictures of Jan (who became Jean in Montreal) and Theodore who we had a picture with an inscription on the back to his “brother Ludwik” from Louis Kendzierski’s personal effects. So now we arrive at the promised family photo recently supplied by a distant cousin and then given to me. Enjoy!

fellow genealogist, Steve Kalemkiewicz was doing some research using the Dziennik Polski – Detroit, Historical Newspapers. He discovered, Stanczyk’s paean to that newspaper (at the preceding link) and graciously provided this jester with a slew of new data/funeral cards. He had collected a funeral card of his ancestor (Marta Dłubisz) and he thought to gather others as well from his research efforts and pass them along to my ever growing database of Detroit Polonia, as chronicled in the former daily newspaper, Dziennik Polski (Detroit). The new funeral cards (all from 1963) can be found with some already existing samples at the follow web address:

Stanczyk is killing time until April 2nd and research can begin in earnest on the 1940 US Census.

Wlecialowski, Boleslaw

One of my focus points will be Boleslaw Wlecialowski, my first cousin, twice removed. I have had problems locating him in the US Censuses. So I am hoping 1940 will be different.

Boleslaw, like many Polish-Americans, “Americanized” his name. So Boleslaw became Bill — very alliterative. Of course, if your name is Bill, then your formal name must be William. So we find records for Boleslaw under Boleslaw, Bill or William.

Here is a brief summary of Boleslaw Wlecialowski ‘s life as I can document it:

Father:

Maciej Wlecialowski (1868 – after 1918)

Mother:

Katarzyna Elijasz (1863 – after 1918)

Individual Facts

Birth

6 Nov 1892

Kwasów, Swietokrzyskie, Poland

Arrival

6 Jul 1910 (age 17)

Going to uncle Jan Elijasz in 7829 Burke Ave, Cleveland, OH [same addr in August 29th]; New York, New York (on SS Vaderland)

Arrival

29 Aug 1910 (age 17)

from father Maciej Wlecialowski in Pacanow, Stopnica, Kielce, Poland to uncle Jan Elijasz, 7829 B; New York, New York

Boleslaw Wlecialowski was born (ur.) November 6th, 1892 (Gregorian date) in the Russian-Poland partition village of Kwasow in the parish of Pacanow, Poland (gubernia of Kielce). His parents were Maciej Wlecialowski & Katarzyna Elijasz (my great, grand-aunt) — hence Boleslaw is my first cousin, twice removed. I have Boleslaw’s church record (#171 of Pacanow parish 1892 Births) written in Russian (Godparents: Jozef Slawamowski & Marrianna Elijasz).

He arrived at Ellis Island on July 6th, 1910 on the SS Vaderland. He was coming from his father, Maciej Wlecialowski in Pacanow, Stopnica, Kielce, Poland and his destination was his uncle, Jan Elijasz in 7829 Burke Ave, Cleveland, OH [hence, Stanczyk’s interest in the Cuyahoga County/Cleveland OH Elijasz families].

He made his way to Detroit, MI where his older sister Rosalia Wlecialowski Gawlikowski lived. He was living at 449 Grady Ave, Detroit, MI, when his brother Leon arrived at Ellis Island on the SS Pretoria arrival on 22 Dec 1913.

FAQ

Last Name – exact means the full last name exactly as you typed it. You can also select the ‘starts with’ radio button and just provide the first few starting characters. Do not use any wild card characters!

First Name – exact means the full first name exactly as you typed it. You can also select the ‘starts with’ radio button and just provide the first few starting characters. Do notuse any wild card characters!

Newspaper Date – exact means that you need to enter the full date. Dates are of the format:

06/01/1924 (for June 1st, 1924). Format is MM/DD/YYYY. Leading zeros are required for a match.

You can use ‘contains’ radio button to enter a partial date. The most useful partial is just to provide the Year (YYYY). Do not use any wild card characters!

Event Type – exact means the full event type. This is not recommended. You SHOULD select the ‘starts with’ radio button and just provide the first few starting characters. Do not use any wild card characters! Uppercase is not required.

Valid Events Types: BIRTH, CONSULAR, DEATH, or MARRIAGE

Indexer – exact means the full indexer exactly as you typed it. You can also select the ‘starts with’ radio button and just provide the first few starting characters. Do not use any wild card characters!

The Indexer is meant to be informational only, but you could conceivably want to search on this field too, so it is provided.

Earlier in the week I had dropped a quick spreadsheet of some people in my family (or for whom I had performed a RAOGK). It also was accompanied by a map of the Mt Olivet Cemetery (shown to the left).

Mt Olivet is part of the Mt Elliott Cemetery Association which is made up of the following cemeteries:

Mt Elliott, Mt Olivet, Resurrection, All Saints, Guardian Angel and The Preserve cemeteries. They also have an online database that you can search for your ancestor here: http://mtelliott.com/genealogy .

The map seems to indicate that there are about 75-85 sections to the cemetery (Most are numbered, but the annex sections have Letters). I have section maps for Sections: 15, 24, 52 and L. These section maps have family names (probably of the original deed-holder family) written in the boxes.

I would like to collect the entire set of section map pictures. So my plea to you, my readers is do you have a scanned map of any of the sections of Mt Olivet (Detroit) cemetery?

If you have any or all of these Section Maps, then can you email these images (preferably in JPG/JPEG), but I will take any format you have. The image needs to be clear enough to read the names in the boxes. Let me show you an example (a portion) of what I am looking for:

Ok readability is highly variable. Obviously they can write smaller than can be read. But what I am trying to do is read…

“Pitlock”, Plot 1223, “Chojnaski”, Plot 1222, etc.

These are sometimes called Plot Maps. The one here is a snippet from Section 15.

Well Stanczyk have been busy for a few days, trying to update the Rootsweb page dedicated to the Dziennik Polski, Detroit, MI Polish Language Ethnic Newspaper.

The Index page with the names has been updated with nearly 7,000 new names / dates from 1936. The Summary of all Dziennik Polski transcriptions now totals 48,217 of which 26,745 of those names are indexed and the summary page is here.

The Index page is alphabetical by Last Name, First Name, Date of Newspaper (when the name appeared). Use your browser’s FIND capability (Ctrl-F in Windows, Cmd-F in Mac) to search for a name or just scroll the page.

Stanczyk writes to entertain and inform. Perhaps one day I will corral these thoughts into a genealogical book in some media — so I guess that is another reason I blog. To be sure though, I have said this blog is my family magnet. I am trying to draw distant cousins or people with affiliated families who may have pictures or clues to my family history — so I publish info and original research to draw, magnet-like, to me those who are “connected”. Today I will give a Sunday appeal, by listing the churches/parishes where my family has congregated. Let me know if any of these are also yours…

I will start with my paternal grandparents since I know their parishes in Poland. In Biechow, my grandmother Walerya’s parish is named: Wszystkich Świętych (All Saints). This is the parish where my grandparents were married in 1907. It is also the parish where their first child (Wladyslaw Jozef) was born in 1908 and probably Aleksandra (aka Alice) was born in that parish too. Aleksandra came with my grandmother in 1913 to the USA as a four year old.

My grandfather, Jozef Elijasz, was born in Pacanow, in the sw. Marcin (St Martin) parish. Once Jozef and Walerya came to the USA, they left a trail of churches, with family notations to dot the landscape across this great nation of ours.

?(post 1914, but before 1916)-1920 Toledo, OH – St. Anthony. In 1916 Their fourth child, Stefan (Stephen Edward) was born. Followed by Joseph in 1919 and Boleslawa/Bernice in 1920. Stefan and Joseph were christened at St Anthony, but Bernice was not christened in the diocese of Toledo. So I think that almost immediately after Bernice was born they moved to Detroit and I suspect Bernice was baptized in Detroit.

Detroit, MI – So many parishes. In Detroit, December 1922 Henry was born. Henry was born and died a month later in January 1923. In 1924, Theodore was born in Detroit. Finally, In 1926 their last child, Chester, was born at home. His baptism was at Corpus Christi Church (2291 E. Outer Driver, Detroit) in 1928. My grandfather Josef built the steeple on Corpus Christi Church. Chester’s God Mother Janina Leszczynska is a mystery. Was Janina a sister or a sister-in-law of my grandmother (Walerya z. Leszczynska) ? We have no record of Janina Leszczynska — perhaps the 1940 US Census will shed some light. Chester attended Immaculate Conception Church in Hamtramck as a boy. His 1st Holy Communion was at St Johns Church on East Grand Blvd, Detroit.

So that is nine children born and seven who survived infancy. My grandparents had children in two different countries, and in three states in the US. Two churches in Poland and at least a half dozen churches in the US document my father and his siblings births/baptisms.